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educing Mr Maclean is full of lush descriptions about Lebanese culture, dancing, music, and in particular, food (you’ll be craving hummous, baclava, and halva for weeks after reading it). It is an enjoyable and funny read which touches on an important…

Robin Loftus’ new collection of poetry Backyard Cosmos is a small collection, almost more of a pamphlet than a book, containing 50 pieces including a few haiku, but the work has that transformative quality which Ellmann refers to. Some of…

This book, though short, demands slow, close reading. It is a difficult book as much from the artfulness of the author as from the tragic subject. All critics have commented on the beauty of Banville’s writing and this beauty sustains…

Haverleigh is a well written and engaging story which moves smoothly between the front lines, and the quiet town of Haverleigh, between war at its face, and the impact of war on those left at home. The work is also…

In this exceptional interview, James Cumes talks about his novel Haverleigh, about growing up in Queensland, fighting on the Kokoda Trail in WW2, his next books, and his special project VOW. Interview by Magdalena Ball Compulsive Reader: Is this your own story? Are…

You are never told exactly where in India this novel unfolds, but the city has the feel of Calcutta. It is fascinating to see the main character, Dina, move through disgust at the men who are working for her, tailors,…

There is certainly no reason to accept the dumbing down of our society and Bowler tears up the cobblestones to form a barricade in what is very likely a losing battle. This is a book worth treasuring by all who…

The story is straightforward, and the mystery unfolds with the right pace, and the right amount of suspense, but James is much more than a simple genre writer. Her characters are complex and well drawn, and while the story reads…

A Small Flaubertian Moment: A Review of Julian Barnes’ Something to Declare Barnes’ latest work, Something to Declare is non-fiction, a series of eighteen essays collected over twenty years, covering a range of (mainly gallic) subjects from Richard Cobb’s love and disappointment…

Is this Nothing: Elizabeth Jolley’s An Innocent Gentleman As a comedy of manners, An Innocent Gentleman makes for a mildly humorous, and easy to read novel; a brief play which is a kind of light farce. As a commentary on…